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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269198">My Love and My Hope</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofstarsandnightingales/pseuds/ofstarsandnightingales'>ofstarsandnightingales</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Callum has mad art skills, Established Relationship, F/M, I wrote this in like five minutes and it somehow turned out okay, Post-Canon, big feelings time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:21:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,274</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269198</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofstarsandnightingales/pseuds/ofstarsandnightingales</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been months since the Battle of the Storm Spire, and Callum and Rayla are set to leave for Katolis that day. But now, as he stood at the pinnacle, Callum was having trouble saying his goodbyes.<br/>Once he leaves, will this ever be his home again?<br/>Will people remember that he was ever here?<br/>A round of Big Feelings Time with Rayla convinces him to leave his mark on the Storm Spire, painting over the bad memories to a future full of good ones.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My Love and My Hope</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I've always noticed a bit of symbolism during Zubeia's speech in the finale of season three. At first, I always thought the last words - my love and my hope - felt a bit out of place with the sentence, kind of like an afterthought. After watching the finale many more times than I probably should have, I noticed how Callum looks to Rayla when Zubeia says "my love" and to Ezran at "my hope." The need to share this nerdiness with others wound up with me writing... whatever this is.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The wind around the storm spire blew colder than it usually did.</p>
<p>Callum stared out across the evening sky, a feeling of denial resting deep in his chest. He'd lived here with Rayla and Ibis for months now, and no matter how many terrible memories the pinnacle brought back, he didn't want to leave.</p>
<p>This place had been his home. It had been the place where he'd confessed his love to Rayla, the place he'd convinced her to stay before the battle, and the place she'd convinced <em>him</em> to stay afterward.</p>
<p>Now, the new Dragonguard was strong enough to fend off anyone who dared attack, and Katolis needed its step-prince again. He hadn't wanted to stay here. He'd only done so to stay with Rayla.</p>
<p>He'd jumped off a mountain for her. It wasn't as if there was anything he <em>wouldn't</em> do for her.</p>
<p>So now it was time for him to say his final goodbyes.</p>
<p>To be fair, he was supposed to be saying goodbye to Ibis. He'd never been too fond of the man, however, and their goodbye had been short. Deep inside, he knew the thing about this place that he missed the most would be the place itself.</p>
<p>So he stood, rubbing his hands together in such an awkward manner that he wanted to grow his wings just to give them something to do.</p>
<p>"Uh, hey, mountain?" He asked, throwing his words to the wind. Instead of echoing, they seemed to be sucked straight into the air around the pinnacle. <em>Maybe the mountain is listening to me</em>, he thought, then almost groaned at how stupid that was. Mountains didn't have ears. He kept talking anyway. "Listen, I just wanted to say..." He thrust one hand into his hair and sighed in frustration.</p>
<p>"You talking to the mountain now?"</p>
<p>Callum turned to the figure standing with her arms crossed by the long staircase. Rayla. He couldn't help thinking that she looked beautiful there, silhouetted against the sky. He hadn't even heard her approaching.</p>
<p>
  <em>You're smart, and fast, and... beautiful.</em>
</p>
<p>"I am, in fact, talking to the mountain," he said, holding up one finger. "You told me everything in Xadia is magic. The mountain could, hypothetically, hear me."</p>
<p>Rayla gave him a playful shove. "Well, I don't know about the mountain, but I can hear you. And it didn't seem like you were gettin' very far with your speech."</p>
<p>"No, I wasn't," Callum agreed. He turned his eyes to his feet. He thought he might stay that way for ages, but Rayla slid her fingers to grasp his hand. He looked back at her.</p>
<p>"Big feelings time?" she asked, her eyes painfully sincere, painted that stunning lavender that he could never capture on paper.</p>
<p>
  <em>Rayla, you're the most amazing person I've ever met. </em>
</p>
<p>She'd come a long way from being afraid of showing her emotions to him.</p>
<p>He nodded, and they sat down at the edge of the pinnacle, hand-in-hand.</p>
<p>"There are so many memories tied to this place," he finally said, his voice painfully small against the blowing wind. "Good ones, and... well, awful ones. And I know we'll come back here someday, to see Zym, or Zubeia, or even Ibis. But when I come up here, I feel so... insignificant. All the times we come here will be in our lifetimes, and when we're gone, are people going to remember us? Is anyone going to know we were here?" After the words spilled out, he looked to Rayla, her expression shocked. He laughed. "I know. That's one... big feeling I've got."</p>
<p>"Hey, it's okay, sad prince," Rayla said. She shook her head. "I guess I'd just... never thought about that before. It's... a bit like what happened with my parents." Rayla struggled to get the words out, and Callum gave her a reassuring squeeze of the hand. "We got their story all wrong. I guess it would be terrifying if the same thing happened to us."</p>
<p>"Yeah. It would be," he nodded. Rayla always found a way of understanding somehow. He didn't know how she did it, growing up in a life so different than his, but the two of them were masters of the impossible. Him and his sky magic, and the way she'd carved out her own path, rejecting the ways of the assassins. "At least we saved them from ending up like that."</p>
<p>"<em>You</em> did," Rayla pointed out. "And I'll forever be grateful for that." Rayla's eyes caught on something to the side of them, but when Callum looked, all he could see was the paintbrush he'd used to paint his runes beside a tin of black paint. She stood, her hand lingering in his before she let go as slowly as possible. She handed him the paint and the paintbrush. "Go on. You want to be remembered?" She gestured to the center of the pinnacle. "I'll say my goodbyes to the mountain. In my head. I don't think this mountain can hear us. You... do what you do best."</p>
<p>And somehow, he understood.</p>
<p>He stood up, letting his feet guide him to the center of the circle that made up the pinnacle. Inspiration had always come easy to him. This was no exception - for some reason, his mind wandered back to the day Zubeia had woken up.</p>
<p>
  <em>Humans and elves are here... </em>
</p>
<p>His brush traced the lines of the six arcanum in a wide circle, then filled the crests of the five human kingdoms in each space that formed. The circle wasn't perfect, but then again, their peace wasn't perfect either, was it?</p>
<p>
  <em>...and they brought back my baby? </em>
</p>
<p>In the center of the circle, his mind called up an image of Zym. He let the strokes of the brush take the form of the baby dragon, and a smile fell across his face.</p>
<p>
  <em>My love...</em>
</p>
<p>He remembered looking to Rayla that day. He loved her more than anything, and the past months had only solidified that. He painted her face beside Zym's, the lines perfectly capturing Rayla's spirit for once.</p>
<p>
  <em>...and my hope.</em>
</p>
<p>He'd looked to Ezran. Ez, his little brother, growing up so fast. He really was the only hope of breaking the cycle of violence. He painted Ezran on Zym's other side, Bait in his arms as usual. He painted the crown on Ezran's head. It felt natural, despite the fact that he was still getting used to seeing the crown in real life.</p>
<p>He signed his name in the empty space below Zym's feet.</p>
<p>Callum stepped back to admire his work, and for once, he felt himself beam with pride. Ibis would probably hate his guts for this, but he'd be gone by the time the sour guardian discovered the painting. He didn't think Zubeia would mind, though, and that was all that mattered.</p>
<p>He didn't realize Rayla was standing by his side until she spoke. "It's... beautiful." She grinned at him, her smile radiating warmth. "But it's missing something."</p>
<p>Callum blinked. Had he forgotten an arcanum? That would be embarrassing. "What?"</p>
<p>Rayla kissed his cheek. "You, dummy. We're all there except you, and I, for one, won't stand for it." She snatched his paintbrush and drew a tiny smiley face with exaggerated, very round ears and tiny wings in the corner of the painting. "There. Now it's perfect."</p>
<p>"Perfect," Callum agreed, and they laughed so hard it felt like he would burst. </p>
<p>In his mind, he felt this memory slip into the hollow, horrifying feeling that accompanied the memory of the battle. It would never really be gone, of course. But this...</p>
<p>This moment was what he needed to move forward.</p>
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